NEIL ALEXANDER reckons it might take a Rangers player to end up in hospital before an SFL ref will dish out a red card to opposition.

The Ibrox keeper was on the receiving end of a two-footed challenge from Stirling Albion’s Steven Weir in their 1-0 defeat to the Binos a fortnight ago.

Weir was given only a yellow card by referee Bobby Madden, as was defender Gary Thom, whose high, reckless tackle on Ian Black warranted a sending-off.

Alexander feared he might get seriously hurt at Forthbank but has urged his Gers team-mates to accept that whistlers are more reluctant to show red cards in Scotland’s bottom tier.

He said: “In the Stirling game, I had one on myself where the boy went in two-footed and luckily for me I could see it coming.

“I was fortunate not to get carried off and spend the night in hospital.

“I asked the ref at half-time, ‘what is it going to take for you to produce a red card? For me to spend the night in hospital with a serious injury?’ It should have been a straight red but he only got a yellow and there were other incidents later in the game.

“You just have to accept it. That has maybe been the hardest lesson for us to learn this season.

“If it was the SPL, maybe something would be done about it.

“But challenges are going unnoticed. We just have to keep playing.”

As he prepared for Gers’ clash with Queen’s Park at Ibrox today, Alexander revealed he wants Ally McCoist’s side to be more vocal on the pitch.

He said: “The foreign boys don’t speak a great deal of English and the young boys are a bit quiet.

“That’s around six players out of 11 so we’re relying on five Scottish players to bring the rest on.

“There is a great deal of demand on guys like myself and Lee McCulloch and we’re doing our best.”

Neil Alexander launched Rangers: The Official Illustrated History – a new book to mark the Ibrox club’s 140-year anniversary.